Chelsea Helion
Chelsea Helion is a researcher and first author of the 2014 paper on gift cards and hedonic spending in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making.
Who they are
With Thomas Gilovich, Helion reported three studies showing that gift cards led people to spend more on hedonic goods than on utilitarian goods. The studies combined a choice task, a laboratory store and bookstore transaction data compared with credit card purchases.
The article on why gift cards go unspent uses the paper for the idea that a card is filed under pleasures.
Key papers
Helion, C. and Gilovich, T. (2014), Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 27(4).
Key ideas
Gift cards lean spending towards hedonic goods.
People chose gift cards to pay for hedonic items.
Sources
- Helion, C. and Gilovich, T. (2014), Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 27(4), 386-393.